Funny Day in the Art Room

This is really not a post about a lesson, but just a funny thing that happened today. I had a 5th grade class that was glazing ceramics. I have 12 brand new pint sized bottles of glaze. I gave the class a run down of glazing, telling them to be conservative as the glazes are not cheap. Just as I finished my spill, one student picked up a bottle and shook it as hard as he could. What he did not realize was that the top was not on. Glaze flew out all over the student, me, and several others close by. For a full five seconds, everyone just kind of stared at each other as glaze oozed down the wall. Well, what else could I do but laugh. I sent four kids to the office to get clean clothes and a few to the bathroom to wash off. I spent the next hour cleaning glaze from the ceiling, table, floor, chair, and wall. We readjusted about 30 minutes later and got back to work. While the class was not their usual calm, they were ok. The student apologized at least 10 times and offered to buy new glaze. I told him I thought we would be ok, but to be extra careful next time. I guess it is things like this that make me realize that you have to go with the flow sometimes.

I know that student did not mean to fling glaze every I giggled, and the rest of the class was lost.

I was telling the class how the glazes are expensive

Silly Portraits

I think this might be my most favorite project ever!!! These were done by first and second grade and they are a hoot! I totally copied this from Mrs. Picasso's art blog, so thank you for the wonderful idea. I let the students select the background paper, then the color for the face. We tore the shape of the face out together, then worked from the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hair. That took about one hour, with cleanup and line up. We used glue sticks for this part. The next class period, we glued the 9 inch x 12 inch paper to a 12 inch x 18 inch black paper. Then the fun began. I had old bottle tops, pencil erasers, forks, stamps, and other random things that the kids used to stamp. We used black tempera on old plastic lids. I showed them what "going too far" meant, then let them go to town. I had very few students that put too much detail, so really everyone had a great project. The compliments have been nonstop, and I think everyone is proud of their work.

Impressionist Trees

So I totally copied this from someone's blog....only I can not think of where it is:( It is really a great lesson though. I read a story about Impressionist painters to first grade. They thought the paintings were fantastic. We also discussed primary and secondary colors, and color mixing. Students turned their paper landscape, then we drew a ground line. Next, students had to draw three trees, one on each side of the paper and one in the middle. We used primary colors and Impressionist brush strokes to paint the leaves on each of our trees, then took turns mixing the secondary colors. Some of the kids got a little carried away, but I think everyone came away with knew knowledge about the primary and secondary colors.

Kindergarten Sunflowers

Something about the first of the year just puts sunflowers on my brain....anyways, I love these paintings by Kindergarten! We talked about Vincent Van Gogh and looked at several of his paintings. We first painted circles in orange and yellow, then added petals to the circles. I showed students how to paint the stems and the centers. I stressed the correct way to use a paint brush. They really turned out wonderful.

Lines and Shapes

Fifth grade has been working on these beautiful watercolors for several weeks now. We talked about geometric and free form shapes, as well as line. Students drew five organic leaf shapes, then filled the rest of the picture in with a minimum of eight line designs. Pencil lines were traced with sharpies, then the leftover pencil line were erased. Students painted a water color wash over the picture. I love the results!

Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers

Third graders did a study of Vincent Van Gogh. We read Camille and the Sunflowers by Lawrence Anholt, then talked about some of Van Gogh's paintings. We used white chalk to draw the flower, then yellows, oranges, and browns to color the sunflowers in. I used a gum eraser to erase smudge marks and then sprayed the drawings with cheap hairspray. I love the results, and everyone was successful!

Fourth Grade Houses

Fourth graders have been working on drawing houses. We talked about architecture and looked at different styles of homes. Fourth graders were given a handout with different styles of windows, doors, steps, and many other details. They drew the homes in pencil first, then outlines the houses in black sharpie marker. The students are in the process of coloring the houses now.